Policy Forum on Public Access to Federally Funded Research: Phase Two Wrap-Up

Cross-posted from the OSTP blog.

Today marks the final day of Phase Two of our public access policy forum.

Thank you to everyone who shared thoughts and ideas about the technologies and features that will best promote public access. As we know it is difficult to find extra time to provide commentary during the holiday season, we greatly appreciated the extensive comments, links and data. In order to make sure that everyone has a meaningful opportunity to weigh in, we will be revisiting these topics during a bonus comment period in January.

Phase Two sparked a dynamic discussion of the technological specifications that would best serve public access. Participants analyzed the relative benefits and disadvantages of a wide range of formats, noting that some would make it easier to search while others may facilitate submission – and therefore compliance. Many participants pointed to the benefits of enabling public feedback on submitted articles, but disagreed upon whether moderation would of such input would foster or impede a productive discussion between participants. In terms of metrics, some suggested the simplest way to measure success would be to quantify the number of submissions freely available as well as the number of downloads or page views. By providing hyperlinks throughout their comments, many participants showed us some of the best examples of usability known to date. Thank you! Still others ventured beyond today’s needs to suggest the challenges and opportunities the future may bring to public access endeavors. Overall, participants underscored the importance of simplicity - in terms of standards, flexibility, and adaptability to evolving technologies.

Tomorrow, the new year will usher in Phase Three of the public access policy forum. Phase III will focus on Management and run through Thursday, January 7th. After Phase III draws to a close, we will carefully read and process your comments in preparation for the two-week extension to our blog schedule.

Again, we will be using those final two weeks to revisit, on a more detailed level, all three focus areas that you will have addressed — and we may ask you to delve deeper into a few specific areas for which we’d like a more detailed discussion.

Thanks again to all of you for your continued diligence and participation, especially over the busy holiday season. We look forward to your continued commentary into the New Year!

You can comment on this post at the OSTP blog.

Diane DiEuliis, Assistant Director, Life Sciences, Office of Science and Technology Policy